Trustees set stage for fall semester

At its final meeting of the academic year on June 22, the Bowling Green State University Board of Trustees took steps to prepare for 2017-18.

One college will begin the year with a new name that better expresses its mission and vision. The trustees approved the renaming of the College of Business Administration to simply the College of Business, which is broader and does not limit its identity.

In other facilities action, the board approved the naming of a number of spaces on the Bowling Green campus and at BGSU Firelands in honor of companies and people who have contributed their leadership and support.

On the Bowling Green campus, the trustees approved the naming of the Judge Allan H. Davis Computer Lab (Room 206) in the Michael & Sara Kuhlin Center in honor of the longtime supporter of his alma mater. Judge Davis is a 1965 graduate and was a Hancock County judge for more than 40 years. He has served on the WBGU-TV Advisory Board in addition to his many contributions to BGSU. His extensive financial support has included a gift in support of the renovation of South Hall into the new Kuhlin Center and aided the School of Media and Communication (now housed in the Kuhlin Center), along with the Excellence Fund for BGSU, the colleges of Arts and Sciences; Business Administration; and Technology, Architecture and Applied Engineering; the Class of 1965 Scholarship Fund, and the Alumni Fund.

At BGSU Firelands, spaces in the North Building and Mylander Hall will now be named: Bettcher Foundation Floor, Geotrac Charitable Foundation EPIC Lab, John G. G. Frost Chemistry Lab, Ruth Frost Parker Biology Lab, Sidney Frohman Foundation Collaboration Space, Daniel and Laura Keller Computer Science Technology Lab, Buckeye  Broadband  and Telesystem Electronics Lab, Civista Bank Lobby, Erie County Community Foundation Microbiology Research Lab, Balzer Family Student  Government  Office, Mary Ellen Mazey  Student Collaboration Room, Wightman-Wieber Charitable Foundation Student Collaboration Room,  Reta B. and James H. Stark Microbiology Prep and Storage Room, Rodney K. Rogers and Sandra Earle Student Collaboration Room, and the Richard P. and Constance L. Smith Student Collaboration Room.

“It’s thanks to the team effort of our BGSU family that we are able to provide such excellent learning spaces and resources for our students,” said President Mary Ellen Mazey. “Together we are building a better future.”

Although former President Carol Cartwright was at BGSU a relatively short time, from 2008 to 2011, she oversaw a period of remarkable growth and development at the University. In recognition of her role in BGSU’s development and as a national leader, the trustees granted her emeritus status and the title President Emeritus. Named interim president in July 2008, Cartwright ensured that progress at the University continued apace. She was named the 10th president of the University in January 2009, becoming the first woman to hold that position at BGSU, as she had as the 10th president of Kent State University (and the first woman to be a public university president in Ohio) previously.

Also approved by the board were the appointments with tenure of two incoming faculty members and an academic administrator.

Dr. MD Sarder will serve as chair of the Department of Engineering Technologies. He will hold the rank of full professor. Sarder is an associate professor at the University of Southern Mississippi, where he serves as undergraduate program coordinator of the industrial engineering and technology program and graduate director of the logistics, trade and transportation program. He is also the assistant director of the Center for Logistics, Trade and Transportation. He received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, a master’s of industrial engineering from Wichita State University, a Ph.D. in industrial and systems engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington, and an executive certification in supply chain strategy and management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Dr. Jayaraman Sivaguru was appointed a professor with tenure in the Department of Chemistry. He comes to BGSU from North Dakota State University, where he has taught in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry since 2011. A postdoctoral research scientist at Columbia University from 2003-06, he holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from Tulane University, a master’s degree in chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Bharathidasan University.

Dr. Timothy Davis, a research scientist with the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory and adjunct research scientist in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Michigan, will join the Department of Biological Sciences as an associate professor. He received his doctorate in marine and atmospheric science from Stony Brook University and did postdoctoral work at Griffith University in Australia and with the Canadian Centre for Inland Waters. His undergraduate degree, in marine science, is from Southampton College.

The trustees also reappointed Bruce Nyberg to a second, three-year term as a BGSU national trustee. National trustees are alumni who do not live in Ohio but who can advocate for higher education and are nationally prominent in their fields. They provide guidance but do not vote on board issues.